Video: Saving custom brushes

In this lesson, I'll show you how to select, sample, resize, and save your favorite bBrushes in SketchBook Pro. To begin, let's go to interface lagoon and click on the Brush tools button. So I'm going to move my cursor and point here to the Brush tools. Let's go ahead and click on that once. Let's go ahead and move it towards the middle of the screen so we can them. So what we're going to do here is we're going to go ahead and select and save four different brushes. For this example, I'm going to go ahead and select my Pencil, an Airbrush, a Marker Pen, and a Ballpoint Pen, and I'll go through the reasons why I chose those tools.

In SketchBook Pro 2010 Essential Training, David Lee shows how to use SketchBook Pro's powerful tools and unique marking menu interface to make digital drawing and painting a natural experience. This course covers setting application preferences, selecting brushes, picking colors, choosing the right drawing tools for each project, and working with pen tablet and pen display devices. Exercise files accompany the course.

Topics include:

Exploring the user interface lagoon

Customizing brush settings

Creating a texture brush

Refining a sketch with blur, smear and sharpen tools

Creating illustrations with layers

Using the Symmetry tool to mirror drawings across the X or Y axis

Using the ruler tool to draw and position precise straight lines

Using the Ellipse tool to draw and position precise circles, ellipses, and curves.

Saving custom brushes

In this lesson, I'll show you how to select, sample, resize, and save yourfavorite bBrushes in SketchBook Pro.To begin, let's go to interface lagoon and click on the Brush tools button.So I'm going to move my cursor and point here to the Brush tools.Let's go ahead and click on that once. Let's go ahead and move it towards themiddle of the screen so we can them.So what we're going to do here is we're going to go ahead and select and savefour different brushes.For this example, I'm going to go ahead and select my Pencil, an Airbrush,a Marker Pen, and a Ballpoint Pen, and I'll go through the reasons why I chose those tools.

Go ahead and hover your cursor over the Pencil tool and double-click and the BrushProperties window will come up.So we'll go ahead and grab the top of the window and bring it down.Now, we talked about this in another lesson where we actually could grab thishandle and move it left and right to adjust the hardness or the softness ofthe Pencil and keep your eye here on the dialog box because what this does isit gives you a graphic representation of what's happening as you're moving and sliding that bar.So for this first Pencil, I'd like us to select the Pencil that's about 2B range.

So I have a soft Pencil, and you can use these arrows to adjust it forward or backward.So let's go ahead and get to a 2B/3.0 Pencil, okay.Now, again if it's hard for you to slide that, remember you can always use these arrows.So once you've selected that Pencil, what you want to do now is go ahead andgo to the bottom of your main Brush toolbox and you see where it says Show Custom Brushes?There's an arrow that points downward.Hover your cursor over that and tap down on that to open it.So now you'll see three icons, there are two that are highlighted, one that'sobscured. Go ahead and select the one that says Copy Brush.

Click on that. Now that Brush has been saved.So if you go ahead and use that Pencil, it'll be at these settings as a 2B Pencil, size 3.Let's go ahead and Cancel and select another Brush.Let's go ahead and select the Airbrush right next to it. Go ahead anddouble-click on that.When the Brush Properties window opens, you can now select not only the Size butyou can also adjust the Flow of ink.So let's go ahead and slide that bar down to let's say about 50% size brush.

You see how it's kind of not going to where I want it to be, so what you want todo now is go ahead and slide that to like 50 or 53 and you can go ahead and useyour buttons here to advance to the proper size, okay.We're right at the flow that we want it to be.We're going to have the flow of the ink to be at 25% and the reason why we wantto do this is we want to give ourselves some opportunity to create opacity bybearing down on our pressure sensitive devices, and also be able to lighten up onthem to give us a little more sense of transparency.Let's go ahead and once we're satisfied with those settings, go back down toyour menu here and go ahead and say let's copy that Brush, and see how it places it there?Let's go ahead and cancel thatbecause we're done, we've got that set. Let's move next to our Marker Pen.

Go ahead and select the Marker, double-click.We're going to go ahead and select that at the size 8, which we already are at,and we want to set the Slant at 90 degrees.We want this Pen to be sitting straight up so that we're putting down a nice bold line.So this is going to be sort of like our bold line tool.Let's go back to the Copy Brush Tool, click on that again, and we've got that saved.Let's go ahead and save our last one again. Double-click on the Ballpoint Pen.That's already set where we want it to be, size 2, and in this case, we wantfull opacity, so we'll go ahead and slide that bar to 100%.

Now you can see as you slide the bar, the density of that line does change.So let's go ahead and move that all the way to the right, and we like that,go down to your toolbox, Copy Brush, and you're set.Let's go ahead and close that.Now that we've got our customized Brushes at hand, let's go ahead and create aquick little sketch and put all of those tools to use.Now, one of the things I wanted to share with you also is that the tools thatyou save here, just like the tools that are here that are adjustable, work in all colors.So if you wanted to go ahead and change the colors, feel free, and whileyou're using that particular tool, it will also retain and utilize those as you change colors.

So let's begin with the Pencil tool, and we'll go ahead and go to the ColorWheel and select the color Black and we'll just do a little sketch.Now, a little sketch that I'll do here is we'll do one of a little stuffed animal.Now, we can still use our Editing tools to make some changes here, because itlooks like he has grown a little beard there.So let's go ahead and grab our Zoom and Rotate tool. Let's position the Zoom tool.Select the Pencil. Let's go ahead and flatten that out.Next what we're going to do is select our Airbrush tool and we're going toadd a little color.

Now you see that now that I've zoomed-in, my Airbrush is a little big.Let's go ahead and do the Brush Resize tool, and we pull that up.Now you see where I got that? I've got that at the top of my Brush tool. I'll resize that.Now, before you start coloring, go ahead and take a few swipes on the side soyou get some idea of the value of the color which you're using.Now, if that's a little too dark for you, you can always go back in and selectanother color or you can actually select the color by going to the Color Picker.Let's go to a medium gray.I am liking that a lot more.

So let's go ahead and look at the light source.I'm going to bring the light in from over my left shoulder, so that we have someidea of where the shadows are going to be, and let's go ahead and startAirbrushing some value to give him like a little bit of a cast shadow and alsoto make him look a little more three-dimensional.See how I'm putting a little bit of value to make his ears pop a little bit more?Also, if you went again to areas that are a little bit hard to get to, go aheadand use your Move and Zoom tool and Resize the Brush.You see how by resizing the Brush you can get a little bit closer, and add alittle more precision to your coloring.

We've got that done, let's go ahead and select the color.I'm going to go ahead and select the color red from my Color Wheel.But then I'm also going to go to my Color Selector and Editor, and I'm actuallygoing to take that red and make it little pinker.I'm going to have a little pink nose.I am going Airbrush his nose.Let's go ahead and go to your Move and Zoom tool and move out, and then we'regoing to wrap up the drawing with the Marker tool, which I'm going to go ahead and select.I'm going to select the color black.I'll go ahead and use my Move and Zoom tool, and while I've got that selected,now I'll go ahead and test it a little bit.

Now, if it's looking a little heavy for you, you can still go back in this tooland you can actually adjust it.So you can go back in and say "you know I want to use maybe a thinner line."Maybe something that's closer to a 3.Ah, that's more to my liking.Now what I'm going to do is go ahead and heavy up on that Black line to makethis little stuffed animal pop.Because I've got a heavy light source, I'm going to put the heavy lines on one side.That variety of line will actually make the drawing look more interesting.

Almost kind of like a quasi cast shadow.I'll put one underneath his hand here, underneath his chin.Let's go ahead and zoom, and I'm going to go ahead and use the last tool, whichis the Ballpoint Pen.We still have the Black color selected.I want to just call him Mr. Bunny.So in closing, being able to depend on a familiar drawing and painting toolwe will maintain consistent line weights, feel, and control.

Q: The grid files the author uses in the course aren't included in the exercise files. Where can I find them?

A: The grid files are background template files that are provided with an Autodesk subscription, which comes with purchase of any Autodesk product, including Sketchbook Pro. To sign up for a subscription, visit http://subscription.autodesk.com and click Create an Account. You'll be prompted to enter your software license number, so make sure to have that handy.

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Learn by watching, listening, and doing, Exercise files are the same files the author uses in the course, so you can download them and follow along Premium memberships include access to all exercise files in the library.

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